Maybe in Spain or another league. His defenders won't have as much time on the ball in the PL.
John Stones | Done Deal
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Maybe in Spain or another league. His defenders won't have as much time on the ball in the PL.
But being good on the ball is paramount to Guardiola's football. So to be effective in his system, being excellent in possession is a non-negotiable prerequisite. Which means that for Guardiola Stones can be the better defender than Chiellini. (Unless he fails Mangala/Chygrynskiy style.) Just as Valdés was the better keeper for him than Kahn or Schmeichel could have ever been.
I haven't seen Stones play yet, but the general assessment here seems to be that he "can't defend". And since I've heard the very same words about even some of the best (Piqué, Hummels, Ramos) on the Caf, I automatically give him the benefit of the doubt.
It's more down to the fact that it looks like it has been all but confirmed (although now it is confirmed). I see this as a special case just like Pogba's. I mean, Mourinho posted a fecking team board with Pogba's name on it weeks ago. We all knew these transfers were going to happen.I don't get it. You can't do that with player of other club. I meant even yesterday Mourinho had to repeat that Pogba is not official. United player. What if clubs register their opposition's player into their play off squad to disrupt team spirit and receive no punishment.
Edit: confirmed.
Wow that's a lot for someone who had (at best) an average season last year. Remember when defenders were put on the pitch to stop goals going in? I think this is a big risk by City. Give me Arsenal's back 4 of 20 years ago. Yeah they didn't have the ability to bring the ball out and play a fancy pass but they knew there jobs and they did them well.
Maybe not bout having less time on ball, but surely have harder time in set piece and vs team that play direct football.
Which board? You meant the blurry picture that after closer look and compare to another Mourinho hand writing turned out to be Mata?
Anyways, since it's done dealio, this discussion has no further meaning. Mind ended it?
Getting 50m for stones is outstanding business. Everton laughing their backsides off.
He can defend, he just regressed a bit under Martinez... but a defender regressing under Roberto Martinez shouldn't be that much of a suprise to anyone.
I'm actually quite pleased with this signing. I think it could be a hint that Guardiola is indeed going to go for possession football and if so, will have similar struggles to Van Gaal. It's just not a suitable style to this league.
Kompany isn't actually very good. I don't think he'll be a mainstay under Guardiola.
Like I've said in the post above yours, I don't see Pep getting away with giving his defenders more time on the ball in this league. Premier league defenders need to be strong, quick and good in the air or they'll be in trouble. For all of Stones' competence with the ball, he was making a mess of the very basics and his positioning has been pretty awful in general last season.
I could be made to swallow my words if he ends up being England's next defensive maestro, but I do think Pep is taking a massive gamble.
He is not very good imo. A few occasions he dribbled his way out of danger instead of bootng it and people liked it but his defending is poor. He also tried playing his way out from the back and messed up countless times.
The weird thing for City is that the perfect defender for them and this league, Boateng, they already fobbed off a few years back. Stones suits Guardiola, will improve and for me is a big upgrade on Mangala.
wtf?
Have they signed him or not? I'd rather pay £90M for Pogba than £50M for Stones.
Have they signed him or not? I'd rather pay £90M for Pogba than £50M for Stones.
Don't even think he's as good a prospect as Phil Jones was when you guys signed him, and he's nearly 3 times the money. 3 years older aswell than Jones was with twice as much Premiership experience and 10-nil up on England caps aswell.
We'll see what Pep can do with him and he's obviously in the mold that he likes but the boy needs to learn to defend quickly...
We'll see what Pep can do with him and he's obviously in the mold that he likes but the boy needs to learn to defend quickly...
Does seem like a massive price to pay for someone who looked very shaky at times last season and is far from the finished product, but I think he'll probably suit a Guardiola team. Could be a good signing for City, although has much still to prove.
Good signing. Won't make a big difference immediately though.
He's local to me, and always nice to see local success stories, but £47.5m is a huge amount of money given his level of experience. He needs to step up a level from where he's been at Everton, and it's a lot of weight on those young shoulders. Wish him well even though he's off to City!
I doubt there was ever much doubt Pep would implement a possession based style of football, but I'm not so sure it will be a failure like Van Gaal. It will depend on what type of set up he adopts, what role he gives his fullbacks, if they can perform to his standards, how well the CMs do, etc. There's a lot of questions in the air for me, Van Gaal failed because the style was too ponderous but I feel that City have better personnel for more incisive attacking play which could complement the possession based approach well. We'll see.
As for Stones, excellent business by Everton. I'm curious to see what he does, I thought he was good a couple of seasons ago, but very poor last season, but I put a lot of Everton's season down to Martinez's ineptitude, so we'll see how he fares under Guardiola.
BBC have confirmed it.
As usual, Man Citys signings basking in the shadow of Man Utds. It's #POGDAY
For someone who is so good on the ball he makes an outrageous number of poor mistakes in posession & that is the main thing Pep will need to sort.
It's a signing with more potential than Stirling imo but I think Pep is gonna be surprised at how much more defending is required in the Prem.
It's a signing with more potential than Stirling imo but I think Pep is gonna be surprised at how much more defending is required in the Prem.
Well we were never going to refuse that kind of money. Good move for him in terms of the manager. Koeman would have been good too but if we have Williams lined up and with people Holgate in the wings it was a no brainer.
Wonder what this means for Lukaku now. I thought he was the more likely to leave but now Stones has gone I'm not so sure. He can use that now as a "stones has left so why can't I" bargaining tool now though.
Wonder what this means for Lukaku now. I thought he was the more likely to leave but now Stones has gone I'm not so sure. He can use that now as a "stones has left so why can't I" bargaining tool now though.
Massive fee for a guy who had a poor season, personally thought a few years ago he looked fantastic, might just have been a bad season last year, positive Barnsley get a good profit as well as had a sell on clause. be interesting to see how him and Bailly do this season
Will prove a great signing eventually, just hoping he has a nightmare first season and we win the league.
Think it's a massive gamble.
He was terrible last season.
He was terrible last season.
Agreed, I don't see what all the fuss is about with him but maybe Pep can turn Stones into a good centre back.
We'll see if it was mismanagement that led to last seasons poor form.
Whilst I rate his talent really highly it seems to me that Stones's form went out of the window once he started feeling the pressure of being labelled as one of the best young players in the world and being subject of world record transfer bids for a young defender.
You have to question his mentality and how well he is going to cope with being the most expensive defender in history.
I hope Souness is asked if Stones is worth £50M.
I've never seen him play well. Rip off.
He's not going to get you 50 goals a season so...
This.
I want four defenders who can defend and let the other 6 MFs and Forwards play the ball. That's not "old fashioned" thinking... I'm fine with progress/new tactics, just not in defenders arsing about in areas where a mistake can cost a goal.
Paul McGrath is the best CH I've ever seen and he could pass the ball perfectly well in midfield, but when he was under any pressure near goal, he launched it. So did Rio, Maldini, Adams, Irwin.....
Looks 20M premium for an English player.
Thread move time I guess
Thread move time I guess
I don't think he feels the pressure, but he got the hype into his head and he overplayed his ball playing game while loses focus on his defensive game.
He's coachable given his age, but question over Pep's style in PL. Also Pep's adaptability when coping with underdog favoring mentality of PL.
I suspect he will turn into a cracking player under Pep
Yeah, that's the fun thing about Pep going to the PL. He's excellent, but there is absolutely no precedent for what he's trying to do. A massive clash of football cultures is going to take place and no one can tell how it works out. Looking at the development of the other 5 top teams, I think this is going to be a great season.
50% of a world record fee for the most lauded part of a defence that shipped 55 league goals last season and won only 6 home matches? Seems a gamble to me similar to the one on Sterling last year. Remains to be seen whether he'll improve them or not, but they must have spent the best part of £200m on central defenders in the last 5 years.
To me he will prove to be another Mangala. His positional sense and covering a man is awful. I'm not sure how well he can learn that and improve in this area.
Mustafi, Koulibaly, Howedes look much better and most likely would've costed less. I'm glad he went to City and for that amount on top of it.
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